Greenpeace asks MHA to unlock accounts for domestic donors

New Delhi: With its seven bank accounts being frozen for alleged violation of Foreign ContributionRegulation Act, Greenpeace India has urged the Home Ministry to unlock all its domestic accounts saying it gets about 70 percent of its funds from domestic donors.

"Greenpeace India has urgently asked the Home Ministry to unblock all its domestic accounts maintained for Indian donations as these accounts do not fall under the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)," the NGO said in a statement here.

When contacted, a Home Ministry official said it would examine Greenpeace's application and will take appropriate action.

Greenpeace claimed that it receives about 70 percent of its funds from over 70,000 Indian donors and these accounts have also been frozen by the Home Ministry on April 9.

In a letter to the ministry on Thursday, Executive Director of Greenpeace India Samit Aich asked it for a response within seven days, saying freezing of all of bank accounts irrespective of the source of the funds therein, risks causing needless suffering to the dedicated staff of the NGO.

Such a move deprives the Indian supporters of Greenpeace's work, whose sole purpose is to protect the public interest, and ensure we have clean air, water, standing forests, and a clean and sustainable energy system to ensure the health and well being of the current and future generations, the letter said.

A senior Home Ministry official had said on Tuesday that it has frozen two bank accounts operated for receiving and utilisation of foreign contributions by Greenpeace India and five other accounts, which were "illegally" used for parking foreign contribution.

"The NGO's activities were put on restrictions due to its own mischief as they were using five bank accounts where foreign funds were transferred illegally. We have frozen all these accounts," the official said.

The Home Ministry does not have jurisdiction to stop domestic contribution to any NGO and is not interested in doing so, the official said.

Since seven accounts of Greenpeace India were blocked, one or more bank accounts where domestic contributions were also parked might have got blocked in the process, the official said.

"We have nothing to do with it as we have frozen all seven accounts after verifying relevant documents and finding faults in their operations," the official had said.

Last week, the Home Ministry had temporarily suspended the NGO's licence to receive money from overseas and served it with a showcause notice for alleged violations of the FCRA.